A beautiful dog who had become a companion to the bed-ridden war veteran.

"The dog stays right here beside my bed most of the time," said Howie, but Thursday, the dog escaped out of his back door.

The North Augusta dog catcher found him.

"I'm cripple, and they put the note on my door, and I just had to go to the bathroom, that's the only reason I found the note," he said.

The note said he had three days to pay cash for all of the dog's shots, microchipping and fees from the pound or the dog "would be disposed of."

"$25 for first day and $10 a day for each day he's there," Howie said.

Money that is hard to come by on a fixed income.

'"I didn't have the money to pay to get the tags and little chip that goes in him ... I was waiting on this payday, I live on Social Security, so I was waiting for the money to pay to have this done," he said.

The microchipping and rabies vaccinations are required by South Carolina law, but the time frame is usually longer than three days. North Augusta has one of the stricter laws in the area. In Aiken, a pet owner has five days to claim their pet, unless the animal is identifiable by a tag or a microchip. The owner has 10 days in that case.

After we ran this story, we received dozens of calls from viewers wanting to help Howie pay the fees. He hopes to retrieve Shottie on Monday. We'll keep you updated on this story.

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Laura's love for broadcast news started when she was 15 years old. She was active in the 4-H Club and chose communications as her project area. She decided to start her own local television show that aired weekly to 16 counties in southwest Georgia.